Second Annual Black-and-Blue Thumb Awards

Debra Taylor, 37, of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, was power-washing her pool, unhappy with the puddle of algae and debris in the deep end. She was barefoot, in the shallows, blasting away, when she started sliding toward the muck. "I didn't want to end up in that water—there was a tadpole in there! I don't swim in lakes for the same reason. To avoid the dirty water, I fell on my right arm, wrenching my shoulder," says Debra. She managed to avoid the dreaded pollywog but not tearing her rotator cuff—or surgery. "I learned my lesson," she says. "The pool will never get that dirty again."

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